Process of treating petroleum



R. CROSS.

PROCESS OF TREATING PETROLEUM.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. I], ma.

Patented N m. 28, 1922.

I. III-Ill- G) v INVEN TOR.

' WITNESS.

mama Now--28, 1922.

UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROY CROSS, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI l, ASSIGNOR TO THE GASOLINE PRODUCTS5 COMPANY, ING.,-OFNE W YQEK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF N EW.YORK.

vIPIRIOCIE'ISS OF TREATING PETROLEUM.

Application filed January 11, 1918. Serial No. 211,407.

To alZ whom z't-may concern: I

Beit known that I, RoY CRoss, residing in 1 Kansas City, in-the countyof Jackson, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful-Improvements 1n Processes. of Treating Petroleum, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to a process for malt-- r the oil is heated toasufficient temperature and is not allowed to vaporize, by maintaining on it, a high pressure, then the residual heat in the oil itself issuflicient to continue the cracking. I find that while the cracking orchemical splitting up of heavy ydrocarbons goes onto some extent at atemperature as low as 570 F. yet the speed of the reaction greatlyincreases as the temperature is raised though it isnot advisable at anytime to allow the oil to reach a temperature greater than 850 F. sinceat a higher temperature than this, there is a' eater tendency toward theformation 0 undesirable olefins and aromatic compounds. At the highertemperatures, when the oil is confined under high pressure thedecomposition or cracking goes on with almostexplosive vid lence. Anillustration of this fact is set forth 'in a typicaL test in which j oilwas cracked at a maximum pressure of 93 at-i mospheres. The temperaturewas brought up to 700 F. with a pressure of 16 atmospheres and at 710 F.with apressure of 4:2 atmospheres all tire was removed. The temperature'began to fall and the pressure torise and a final maximum pressure of64. atmospheres was developed at a temperature of 650 F. The additionalreaction much more than counteracted the reduction of'pressure due tothe cooling effect. In another instance after the tem perature wasbrought to 7 20 F. the pressure is a temperature dropped 30 degrees. Ifind that by maintenance of the temperature and without additionalapplication of heat the pressure will continue to rise if thetemperature of the oil is above that at which a reasonable speed ofcracking takes place.

- Since this reaction goes on by reason of the V oil being heated abovethe minimum cracking temperature it is quite important to hold it atthat temperature-and thus conserve the capacity of the tubes for heatingnew oil, by transferring the oil that has. been brought tothis reactingtemperature to a container to which no .heat whatever is applied but onwhich high pressure is maintained. This container preferably holds asmuch oil as would be treated in 15 minutes to 1 hour according to thetemperature used and is thoroughly insulated against the cooling effectof the air. I find that my processmay operate continuously by firstbringing the temperature of'the oil up to that which has been found tobe necessary to get the hydrocarbons converted and to run thispreferably directly and continuously into a re acting container whilesupplying fresh oil to the heating tubes and withdrawing oil that i ihas been held and has undergone the necessary reaction in the reactingchamber.

An important feature of this invention is that in the conversion ofheavy petroleum into lighter hydrocarbons such as gasoline, 1

hot oil is passed through tubes in which itis heated. sufficiently togive a. rapid rate of decomposition and is then passed into a reactionchamber which is of sufiicient capacity to allow time for the reactionto further complete itself before it flows out into a refining still.The accompanying drawing shows one of several methods which may tion.containing the oil, (3) is a reactionchamber, (4) is a circulating pump,(5) is a valve, (6)

ressure feed pump, 7) is an oil supply line, (8) is a valve on blow outline, (9) is a thermometer, (10) and (12) are pipes for withdrawing'oilor gas, (11) and (18) are 'valvesfor regulating the outflow of oil andgas, (14) is a pressure gauge, (15) is a thermometer and (16) is an oilor gas burner. In the operation of this process, valve 8 is ,closed,valve 5 is opened, valve 13 is closed and valve 11 is opened. Preferablyprerose more than 30 atmospheres although the heated oil is pumpedthrough the line 7 by means of pump 6 until the oil shows in the pipeleading through the valve 11. Pump 6 is stopped, valve is closed, valve11 is closed and heat is applied in the furnace 1. Circulating. pump 4is started. When the temperature as indicated by thermometer 15 hasreached 800 F. more or less dependent upon the character of the oilunder treatment the valve 5 is opened and pump 6 is started, beingoperated at such a rate as to maintain a constant temperature asindicated by ther-v mometer 15. It will be understood. that the pump 4is used only for the purpose of recirculating the oil when an apparatusis cold and until the oil has reached a cracking temperature of, say,800 degs. F. After a supply of oil has been circulated in the cyclicmanner and the desired temperature of the apparatus obtained, then thepump 4 is placed out of operation, so as to no longer divert oil flowingto the reacting chamber, and the pump 6 set in operation, whereby astream of raw oil or a mixture'of raw oil and the like is continuouslyforced through the heating coil ,and directly into the reacting chamber.It is therefore apparent that 1 the pump 4 is only ,usedwhere a still isbecracking temperature, the same being diing placed into operation and asingle passage of the oil through the coil is notsufficlent to causethis oil to be raised to 8.

verted and recirculated and then initially transferred to the reactingchamber. Valves 11 and 13 are opened sufficiently to prevent the oilreaching a higher level than that corresponding to the outlet throughpipe 10. With proper regulation th'e'oilgoeis through continuously tothe chamber 3.- The oil blown out through the pipes 10 and 12o is runinto an ordinary crude still where the light hydrocarbons are recoveredand the resid uum settles or is otherwise treated and used again asstock oil.

I claim- A process for treating petroleum oils under pressure withoutsubstantial distillation, which comprises effecting a cyclic circulationof the oil while in a small stream through a discharging the treated oilin a liquid phase I and gases from the enlarged insulated reactingchamber;

f ROY caoss.

